


Dark Slayer

by SpicyGoddess



Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: Alternate Universe, Mostly going to be Arno centric, assassins from the trailer, dark! Élise, heavy drinking (mentioned), i am sorry if this goes in the direction i think it will, theres probably going to be angst, yes i am aware they dont exist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-05
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-18 07:51:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5908495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpicyGoddess/pseuds/SpicyGoddess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if after her fathers death, Élise believed it was Arno who killed her father? What if the Templar's used the revolution to find and kill the assassins? What if Arno was caught between believing Élise could be convinced of his innocents and protecting those he cared about from her kind? What if Unity played out differently?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. preface

Élise felt nothing. She knew she should have at the very least felt sorrowful, or even enraged, but she felt nothing. It took very little time to find out that her father had been murdered. With the crowds shrieking in horror, and most fleeing. What took longer was to discover who the murderer was.

She had been approached by guards, who had given her a description of the killer, and there was no other person who fit that description other than her dear Arno.

She should have felt rage at him for what he had done, but she felt nothing. She was still trying to get past the fact her father had been murdered. 

The nothingness gave into guilt, and she let out the most heartbreaking cry anyone within the vicinity had ever heard. This went on for minutes before she managed to calm herself, but even then she felt the weight of her guilt and the pain that could only be felt when losing two people she loved.

Then she was approached by a man dressed darkly, who gently took her hand and led her away from the scene, back to her home, where she was greeted by another darkly dressed man, this one with a hood over his face, and a Templar cross visible.

He spoke softly to Élise"I am deeply sorrowful for the death of your father, Élise...he was a good man."

"You are only saying that because of his status as a Templar." Élise stated, trying to sound angry, but the guilt and sorrow had settled in, making her voice weak.

The man shook his head. "François was a good man, Templar or not. Especially when he chose to adopt your stepbrother...it truly is a shame he is repaid only with death." He made sure to end by putting as much sorrow in his voice as possible "he deserved much better."

Élise only nodded the words hitting her deeply with how recent the event has occurred. The man continued. "Élise, your father deserved to see you put in place as a Templar Grand Master, and because he no longer will be able to see such a thing does not mean that it will not happen...in your father's memory I would like to train you to inherit that rank." 

Élise looked up "I do not believe I am ready for such a thing, especially so soon after my father's death."

"You do not need to be ready now." he said "You only need to be aware. When you are ready come and find us, you know of our location in Paris."

She nodded

"May the Father of Understanding guide you."

"May the Father of Understanding guide us."  
-  
It had taken Élise two months before she finally decided to set out and find the Templars within Paris. The previous sorrow had been replaced with anger towards her step brother and lover. The boy she once saw as innocent had become a monster. She had led herself to believe that he had never been innocent. That this was the Assassins plan all this time. Arno was never the person she saw him to be. Not even when they were children. He had always been on the side of the assassins. She felt a thirst for vengeance, and the best way to get it was by joining the Templars. 

She found then quickly, and few were weary of her. They all had seen her before and all knew her father and respected her enough not to press about why she was here.

She spoke with the new Grand Master, the same man she spoke with the night of her father's death she discovered one very important thing. That the Bastille had been attacked, and that her father's murderer had escaped. 

The Grand Master of course noticed her rage and played it in the best way he could. 

"Élise, while I understand your desire to find and kill him immediately I need you to train under me. He will no doubt join our enemy, and when the time comes we will destroy him and the Assassins. Good things always come to those who wait, Élise."

She had hated to agree with him and wait. The next months she spent training in combat she put her rage at Arno into her every move. When studying politics she studied each detail, noting the importance of everything. That way when she held power it would take difficulty to over throw her. She also noted how others had hunted down and destroyed political enemies. The exact thing the Assassins would become to the Templars.

'Soon' she thought 'I will be able to get my revenge.'

With a few months time she promised to find him.


	2. The Storming of the Bastille

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Icecream = Corentin  
> Greencoat = Jacques  
> Axeman = Elliot

After the death of his step father Arno fell into destructive habits-or he would have, if he were not framed for the murder and sent to the prison fortress, the Bastille. Rather than turning to alcohol as a solution to his dread, he was forced to put up with an assassin that went by the name Bellec. 

While the man was immensely annoying to Arno, he more or less prevented Arno from falling into a destructive mind set. It had taken little time for Bellec to pick up things about Arno. Such as how when he overthought or felt the guilt of his step father’s death, he would seclude himself from the others in their shared cell. On days Arno was like this the older would either talk to him or pester him to practice his sword skills. If it was the latter than Bellec would exhaust him to the point that he would forget any guilt he had, at least for a while.

Other days Arno would be so miserable that not even Bellec being a massive annoyance would get him to do anything. Those where the days that the assassin would sit and talk to him about anything ranging from politics to life before he became an assassin. The older was however extremely careful to not talk about anything relating to death, no matter if it was that of a plant or a human. Arno would rarely reply to anything he said, but it was clear he was listening. It would distract him some, or even be entertaining, depending on what Bellec talked about. Sometimes, Arno would smile a little during certain stories. When this happened Bellec would tell similar stories, seeing that it was improving Arno’s state, even if it was only a little.

Bellec thought Arno to be similar to his father. Both would seclude themselves when in states of guilt, or extreme thought. The older couldn’t help but wish Arno’s father were still alive. 

Days went by like this, Bellec training Arno in swordsman ship, and hand to hand combat. It wasn’t like they had anything better to do aside from, in Arno’s case, drown in guilt.  
It had been two months since Arno was brought into the prison fortress, and today was like any other day, sleeping then waking up to a seemingly annoyed Bellec, who would then literally kick Arno out of bed to practice his swordsman ship. Only today shouts from just outside the brick walls could be heard, and that soon developed into gunfire, then to cannon fire. The last was when Arno was concerned enough to break focus on his training and ask what was going on. 

“What is causing such a commotion outside?”

Bellec only replied with a small smirk and said “The three musketeers finally decided to show up.”

Arno was going to ask for clarification, but guards had approached giving instructions to back to the wall. Bellec signaled him to be quite and hide behind a nearby corner. Once the guards were close enough they took one down, stole their weapons and began their escape. 

They ran past a nearby corridor, Bellec leading and Arno following. The few guards that they encountered were quickly killed thanks to their stolen weapons. When they had to stop to pick the lock on the door, Arno looked out a nearby window only to see floods of people inside the walls of the prison, most dressed as ordinary citizens who carried makeshift weapons, and every now and again a flash of a green, tan, or white. He found it odd but before he could say anything Bellec had the door opened.  
He followed Bellec in without question, and encountered more guards than there had been for. 

“Out the window!”

Arno went without question and climbed along the platforms and walls, being careful not to get shot, until he reached the nearest brick platform, Bellec only seconds behind him. The older took lead once more, and they didn’t encounter any more guards until they reached the top of the fortress.   
The guards at the top ran at the pair but were quickly defeated thanks to Bellec and Arno’s training. Once it was clear, Arno began to look for a way down, that wouldn’t get the two of them killed.

Rather than search for a way down, Bellec went straight to an edge.

“What do we do now?” Arno asked when he found nothing.  
“Jump.”  
Arno froze. He had to be kidding “You are mad.”   
“Drink to-“

“He means to say your damn right he is.” Said a voice form behind them. Arno jumped, not having heard anyone approach.

Bellec turned with a grin “You’re late to the party, Elliot.”  
“I like to think it has just started.” ‘Elliot’ replied. 

Arno looked between the two, confusion clear. Apparently Bellec knew the hooded, axe wielding man behind them. Just before he could ask anything, more guards approached from behind.

“Back away from the ledge!”

Bellec grinned “Introductions can be made later when you pluck your head out of your arse and join us. Au revoir, Arno.” He said as he tossed something to Arno, which he caught with ease. The other then leaped off the edge. 

Arno hesitated, seeing the guards behind him, with only the man and the axe between him and them, and the ledge in front of him. 

Before he could make a proper decision, he was roughly shove from behind, the only thing he heard before falling into the hay pile below was “You better get used to it lad, it’s the first of many!”

Up on the roof the French soldiers were expertly killed by two other hooded men. Once there business was finished, they walked to the edge which Arno had been gracefully shoved off of.

The green hooded assassin spoke first “Is that how we are welcoming new recruits now?” 

The Axe wielding assassin laughed and shrugged. “Technically he’s not a new recruit, but he is a friend of Bellec’s. Arno, I believe his name was.”

The white hooded assassin finally spoke “Arno? Isn’t that Charles Dorian’s son?”

The other two shrugged “Only you and those who worked with him would know.” The green hooded assassin said. 

The white hooded assassin rolled his eyes “Only because I actually read about what accomplishments that the assassins have made in the recent past, Jacques.”

“Shut up, Corentin. Since you’re clearly knowledgeable about such things, I think it’s only fair you jump first.” 

“I second that” said Elliot.

The white hooded assassin groaned loudly before flipping both of them the bird and jumping off the ledge gracefully. 

“Show off” Jacques said, causing Elliot to laugh. 

“Since you’re clearly jealous of his jumping style, I think you should go next. I’ll inform you if you look more graceful.” Before the green hooded assassin could argue, he was pushed off the edge.

“Besides, you never got your proper welcome into the brother hood, so consider it a bonus!” Elliot after him.

Jacques emerged from the hay stack, cursing loudly and profusely while Corentin laughed at him. 

Once the Elliot had jumped down the three left the scene to return back to the brother hood, all in relatively good moods, even with the nature of their job, and the beginning of a bloody revolution behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay end of chapter, I'm actually going to try to finish this (for once) but don't be surprised if I just stop after this. Anyway! I hope that this was some what enjoyable!


	3. A Drunken Meeting

Time wasn’t something that registered in Arnos mind until a month after the Bastille had been stormed. Since then all he felt was numbness, a feeling that he had been using to drown out all others. The death of his father, the murder of his step father, and Elise who has been clearly been avoiding him. Not that Arno could have blamed Elise, he would be too if he was in her position. Hell, he’d probably want to murder himself for it, if he hadn’t known what happened. All these had however begun to weigh on him.  
It was these feelings of guilt, he couldn’t stand. Rather than pity himself and get over it, like he would do had it been anything else, he drowned everything with alcohol.   
It gave him the feeling of invincibility, like nothing could harm him. The deaths of his father and the man who became his father along with being abandoned by the one person he had grown to love couldn’t harm him when he was under the alcohols control. 

Of course he couldn’t stay in one place for long, having gotten into fights resulting in him being kicked out of taverns. He wandered the streets of Paris in a dazed state, until a shadow had found him. 

It wasn’t a menacing shadow like it had been for those it had taken. It was in fact a very kind shadow, when it wasn’t completing a mission. The shadow that had found Arno was none other than Elliot, one of the four men who had led the attack on the prison fortress that Arno had been freed from.

The way that Elliot had found him was completely accidental. Arno had been occupied trying to find a tavern that he had yet to be banished from when he had quite literally ran into Elliot, who was returning home after investigating the radical revolutionaries in the nearby district.

Arno had muttered a quick apology to the assassin while pushing himself up, nearly losing his balance multiple times. Elliot had recognized him as a drunk quickly and insisted on helping him on his way home, but stopped as he recognized Arno. 

“You’re the one that Bellec wanted to recruit, aren’t you?” he had asked. 

A look of confusion had passed Arno’s face and he was about to ask who Bellec was, but instead he said something along the lines of “You mean the jerk who keeps calling me pisspot.”

Had Arno not been drunk and easy to upset Elliot would have laughed, Bellec had a habit of doing that. Instead Elliot said “That’s the one, he misses you and thinks that you should go to the location on that medallion he gave you.”

“I’ll go later” Arno had slurred out

“How about tomorrow?” 

Arno had agreed rather easily in his drunken state of mind. Elliot had almost felt bad for him, seeing as he had known that Arno would agree. He’d make up for it later.  
“Alright, let’s get you off the streets first.”

The walk to the run down flat Elliot had made his home was uneventful, and once arriving Arno had fallen asleep on the make shift bed Elliot had quickly thrown together for him. Elliot felt bad looking at his sleeping form. The kid was going to have one hell of a hangover tomorrow.

‘Oh well’ Elliot thought. ‘A problem that will be dealt with in the morning.’  
-  
The two were woken up rather unpleasantly by banging on the door and duet of “Elliot get your ass up!”

Elliot, who was used to the behavior of his partners in crime, fared much better to the sudden awakening, despite rolling and falling out of bed. It was still a better awakening compared to Arno who had groaned loudly and buried his head in the pillow that he’d been given the night before. It was obvious that he felt absolutely miserable already  
Feeling bad for him once more, Elliot decided not to shout a response to the two behind the door, and instead ran to the door as quickly and quietly as possible. To Arno his footsteps still sounded like earthquakes.

When opening the door he was greeted by Jacques and Corentin both who rushed in, only to stop when they saw Arno trying to hide his head underneath the pillow.

“I thought we went over this Elliot!” Corentin was first to speak, though angry he tried to keep his voice quite, as to not disturb the man with the hangover. “You can’t keep taking care of stray drunks!”

“Hey! In my d-“

“To hell with your defense!” Jacques said, as quietly as the other assassin “We’ve been over this multiple times. Someday it may not be any old drunk that you’re trying to help!”

“Well it wasn’t ‘any old drunk’ this time. And don’t either of you dare interrupt me.” ” Elliot said, noting how both of their expressions became alarmed. “Remember that kid Bellec helped escape the Bastille? Well it’s him. Bellec’s been searching for him, worried that Templars may have killed him, but he was too busy getting drunk from hell to back to have been found by any of us. Last night I ran into him and decided to bring him here. Better for him, better for the Assassins, and worse for those who supposedly want to murder him for what he’s been accused of doing.”

Jacques and Corentin were silent for multiple moments. Before they could reply to anything that Elliot had said they heard a groan form where Arno had been situated then, muffled by a pillow, the words “Will you all shut up now?”

Elliot gave the other two a look before waving them in. “Coffee in ten” Was all he said before disappearing into the kitchen. 

The other two entered cautiously, shared a look, and then looked at Arno.

Finally Jacques spoke “He doesn’t seem like he’d make too bad of an assassin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was originally going to write Arno's introduction into the brotherhood here, but i felt like that deserved its own chapter. Anyways, an entire three updates holy shit! I hope that its okay so far. I promise that soon their will be the darker stuff...okay so maybe it will take a few more weeks but it'll come, promise.


	4. A Novice

Corentin was the unfortunate soul who had to coax Arno out of his makeshift bed. It took a few minutes and a few bruises on both sides, but Arno was out of bed, and with coffee.

“You have good aim, even with your head buried under a pillow.” Jacques said, hoping to start some conversation. All he received was a grunt, which honestly could have meant anything from ‘thank you’ to ‘fuck you.’

Elliot rolled his eyes “Jacques, give him at least a few minutes to get himself together. His hangover is bad enough without being woken by you two.”

“Besides if it was you Jacques you would have sworn us to hell and back by now.” Corentin added way too cheerfully, at least in Jacques’ opinion.

“Shut up Corentin.” Was all Jacques had responded with.

After a few minutes of friendly banter between the three, Arno spoke up.

“Is it always like this with you three?”

“Yes.” Elliot had said, blocking out the ‘No’s that the other two had attempted to say.

Arno laughed a little at that. “You guys must all be pretty close.”

“Yup, it because of the nature of our work.” Jacques said, getting annoyed looks from the other two. “Oh don’t look at me like that, Bellec wanted him to join us and no one ever seemed to object. We should just tell him now so he has time to back out.”

“Back out of what? What are you even referring to?” Arno asked, more curious than annoyed

“You remember Bellec, correct?” Arno nodded “He as well as us three-““And your father” added Corentin “yes, and your father are part of an organization known as the Assassin Brotherhood.”

“The Brotherhood has been working to kill people like your step-father.” Corentin said, continuing where Jacques had stopped. “That doesn’t mean your father was a bad man. Since he had become the Grand Master of the Templar Order, an organization we have been at war with for hundreds of year, we have been mostly at peace with one another.”

  
Elliot was next to speak. “Unfortunately because of his death a new man has taken his place as Grand Master. He wants nothing to do with peace between the two orders. He opposes it, and now we are at war once more. Because of the capabilities that you’ve shown at the Bastille and because you are from one of our own, Bellec believed that you could join the brotherhood. That’s why he gave you that medallion. He wanted you to find us before the Templars found you. Not to mention he probably knew that you would drink your soul away if you had nothing else to do. He believed that you would be able to defend the freedom of mankind.”

Arno sighed, even though that was the abridged version about who the assassins were, it was still a lot to take in.

“What happens if I join you?” he asked

“You would have to take a test, and if the council decides that you pass, you will train as a novice to another assassin, most likely Bellec.” Corentin said.

“If I refuse?”

“Then we would have to kill you.” Jacques answered simply.

Arno’s eyes widened a little at that, much to Jacques’ amusement.

Corentin rolled his eyes. “He’s kidding. He does that to everyone. We would just tell you to forget this ever happened, and continue to do…whatever it is you want to do with your life.”

Arno paused for a few minutes thinking. It wasn’t an easy decision, but if he was being completely honest with himself, he had no place in France anymore or anywhere really, except with the brotherhood. Even knowing that it was a hard decision to make. He would be introduced to something he had never known before and likely be fighting against his lover, seeing as her father held such a high place within the Templar Order. But in all honesty Arno had nothing to lose anymore.

Finally he spoke up. “I’ll join.”  
-  
The four had gone to where the symbol on the medallion led at sunset. Once they reached it, Corentin, Jacques, and Elliot left.

“This is part of the test, you have to figure it out on your own” was all they said before disappearing into the nearby crowed.

Arno sighed deeply before finding his way inside. He was slightly disappointed in the simplicity of the puzzle that awaited him, but he felt like he would soon be faced with a larger challenge.  
-  
Upon awakening he was surrounded by the council members each who, in his opinion, dramatically stated the tenets of the creed he had joined. He had hardly listened to them at all, still out of it do to whatever was in the liquid they had given to him. It wasn’t until he had returned outside that he finally snapped out of it, due to the three who had basically piled onto him in their own version of a hug.

The three were beyond happy for him, knowing that he would soon rise in ranks, and he would finally have a home. Not one where his only family member was always away and keeping secrets. And definitely not one where the only reason he wasn’t in an orphanage was because the man who took him in felt obligated to do so because of his friend. Not one where the truth was always hidden from him, or where he learned more from the staff of the house than from his family members. He would finally have a home where he had a place among the others, where secrets weren’t kept from him, and where he was cared for not because he was a son, or an obligation, but because he was a brother among the others.

They hadn’t known Arno long, but they considered him family, and Arno thought the same of them.

His old family member knew however, and she added these three into the factors that would help to destroy the man she once loved, and the one who killed her father.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa, an entire 4 chapters?!?! This is the most dedicated Ive ever been to any of my works. I hope its alright so far, and that the skipping around didn't leave too much out. I just didn't want to write out that entire scene, we all know what happened, I think. Anyway I hope you all enjoy it so far.

**Author's Note:**

> Not exactly proud of this first part, but it got me going. There will probably only be a few chapters that show what is happening with Élise. She is important though so look out for her. Next chapters will definitely show whats going on with Arno, though. I hope that this is an okay start and it at least caught your guys' interest.


End file.
